Chapter 1 Dilemmas Summary and Analysis

Chapter one begins with a discussion of various dilemma problems. These are hypothetical situations that afford no good solution to some kind of ethical problem. One example is a case where you and a loved one are put in rooms with a button. You are notified that if you push your button you will kill your loved one but save yourself, the same holds for your loved one in the other room. You might be willing to allow your loved one to push their button to kill you so that you might not have to kill them, but you are also told that if neither of you has pushed the button after an hour, you will both be killed. What do you do? You would prefer to wait and let your loved one push the button, but assume your...